Blaze's Mini Fiction Collection
by F. E. M. Darkblitz
Summary: You think you like Blaze? Read on for cool stuff that'll probably never happen in Blaze's opinion, but they're fun to read anywho. Oh, and be warned: there are all kinds of shippings in here.
1. Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

**Did some of you want shipping in Blaze's stories? Well, this is the best I can give you. Alakazam, if you please.**

**Alakazam: Sure. F. E. M. Darkblitz does not own Pokemon, or any characters affiliated with Pokemon, and probably won't for quite a while. He does, however, own Blaze.**

**So, here's the scoop; I had a nightmare a few nights ago that strangely combined Pokemon, the WWI videos that I saw in history, Romeo+Juliet (English class), and Back to the Future. I moved some stuff here, added some stuff there (including the song Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics, which I do not own either.) and voila! Enjoy!**

May walked onto the stage. Her arm was wrapped in gauze, and there was a bandage on her face that covered almost her entire right cheek. Her leg was wrapped as well. _I should be happy that I made it out like this. Just look at Blaze._

Blaze was sitting in a chair right in front of the stage, next to Ash and Drew.

Blaze's Alakazam was watching, too. (Pikachu's taking a vacation, in case you didn't know.) He was in front of the rest of the audience. He looked at May very carefully. She was only a few feet away from his face. _I hope May does all right. Her singing is awesome, but I don't know if she should be singing about this. _A sharp pain flashed in Blaze's right shoulder, and it was all he could do to stop himself from screaming in pain. What was a guy to do when he had a healing hole in his shoulder? Not to mention a bandaged forehead, a wrapped hand, and an aching back.

May noticed and arched an eyebrow at him. He responded by smiling weakly and giving her the thumbs-up, followed by the Live Long and Prosper sign, and finally, the rock on hand sign. She grinned and winked at him. The lights began to dim, and Blaze watched in awe as she began to sing.

**Note: Whatever's in bold is May singing, and the stuff in italics is the flashback.**

_Blaze was walking around in the dark. It was the middle of the night, and almost nothing could be seen besides what was illuminated by his flashlight. Suddenly, something caught his eye that would forever be engraved in his mind. May was unconscious. Her face was as white as an Altaria's wing. There was a gash in her right cheek, and her entire face was covered in blood. Her arm had a gash in it as well, and it stained the grass red. Red (along with black) was Blaze's favorite color, but now he wasn't really enjoying the sight of the red liquid that originated in May's body._

"_Oh, Mew," whispered a horrified Blaze. "It's May." Who in Giratina's name would do this? He put his flashlight in his backpack and picked her up as gently as he could. "I gotta get her to a hospital," he said to himself. "Palkia, she's as light as a feather."_

_Someone ran up to him. Whoever it was was in a black cloak that prevented their face from being seen. "I'll take you there. It's just across the big bridge."_

"_Thanks a load," said Blaze._

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree**

**I travel the world and the seven seas**

**Everybody's looking for something**

"_I don't get it," said Blaze. "You said that we were going across a big bridge. All I see is a huge drop… that goes for two hundred feet… until you get to the rocky bottom…" It dawned on him. This person was trying to get rid of them! "You…" he said hoarsely._

_The person pulled his hood off to reveal himself as…_

"_Harley," Blaze croaked. "You're trying to get rid of us…"_

"_Ah, the genius has finally figured it out. Once you're-"_

_CRACK._

_Harley jarred and fell forward, a red hole in his head. There was blood and brain tissue everywhere. Blaze gagged and kicked the dead Harley off the cliff._

_Ash stood there, a large handgun (complete with scope) pointed at where Harley's head used to be._

**Some of them want to use you**

**Some of them want to get used by you**

"_Ash?" said Blaze weakly._

_He ran toward them. "Get down!"_

_He pushed them into a nearby trench. Machine gun fire streamed above their heads._

"_What the Giratina's dimension is this? World War I?" asked Blaze._

"_Sure seems like it," said Ash. He handed the gun to Blaze. "I've been meaning to give this back to you."_

"_Took you long enough," muttered Blaze. The machine gun fire stopped._

"_Now's our chance," whispered Ash. "Run!"_

_Blaze was having a tough time carrying both May and the gun at the same time. "What the Giratina's dimension is going on, Ash?"_

"_That, Blaze, is an excellent question," was the reply._

_May stirred, and Blaze froze. Ash stopped as well, but for a different reason._

"_Ash, I think May's waking up."_

_Ash's face was white. "Right now, I don't think I could care less."_

_Blaze did his trademark eyebrow arch at Ash. Ash gestured for Blaze to look in front of him. A machine gun was mere feet from them, and it was aimed at Blaze's face._

_Blaze sweatdropped. "This just really ticks me off, you know?" Ash responded by falling anime style._

_Another crack was heard, and the gunman fell forward, landing at Blaze's feet. The source of the crack was revealed. Drew was spinning a semiautomatic on his finger._

**Some of them want to abuse you**

**Some of them want to be abused**

"_You, sir, owe me BIG time," said Drew. He flipped his bangs._

"_Can we PLEASE discuss this later? We've gotta get outta here!" Blaze was not very happy._

"_Keep your shirt on and follow me," was Drew's answer._

_They ran. They didn't know for how long, but they ran._

_May slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the face of someone she knew very well. The red streaks in his dark brown hair were soaked with sweat. The left side of his forehead had a puncture wound, and blood was covering a lot of his face._

"_Blaze?" she said softly._

_Blaze looked down at her. "Crap."_

"_What?"_

"_Well, for starters, you might wanna look yourself over, just in case you're bleeding everywhere or something along those lines."_

_May's leg began to hurt, as if on cue. She yelled in pain. A vein in her neck bulged below the surface of her skin._

_Lights blared in the distance, and Blaze saw them. He was horrified. "Oh, Arceus. They found me. I don't know how, but they found me." _(Sound familiar, Back to the Future fans?)

"_Who?" asked May._

"_Who d'you think?!" cried Ash. "The Libyans!" _(That is hilarious. I love that line.)

**Ooooooooooh**

**Heyyyeeeeyyyyyyy**

**Ahoahhho**

_Someone stuck their head out of the top of the Volkswagen Bus and pointed a machine gun at them._

"_HOLY CRAP!" yelled Blaze and May._

_The group scattered, May still in Blaze's arms. Bullets were flying everywhere. Drew and Blaze were shooting their semiautos, but to no avail. Blaze was hit in the shoulder. He yelled in pain and rage. He noticed that his hand had a hole in it too. Blood was streaming down his arm._

_Ash was hit in his calf. He screamed and fell over._

_Drew was caught in a corner. He raised his hands and tossed the gun aside._

"_Drew!" yelled May. She was standing behind Blaze for protection._

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree**

**I travel the world and the seven seas**

**Everybody's looking for something**

_Drew was caught several times in the chest by the machine gun's line of fire. As if in slow motion, he fell backwards and hit the ground with a big THUMP._

"_NOOOOOOOOO! IDIOTS!" screeched Blaze._

**Some of them want to use you**

**Some of them want to get used by you**

_The terrorist turned to Blaze. He closed his eyes, preparing to become holy. _(That kinda had a double meaning. Sorry.)

_The trigger was pulled. May screamed._

**Some of them want to abuse you**

_The terrorist was out of bullets._

_Ash almost fainted. May was clinging to Blaze's bloody jacket._

_The terrorist yelled something in another language. _(He was probably cursing his heart out, if he had one.)

"_Go! Go!" yelled the Libyan. The Bus was headed straight for them. Ash picked up Drew's gun, ran to Drew's car _(which just so happened to be a DeLorean) _and dove in the backseat. Blaze carried May to the car and picked up Drew's keys. Blaze had no choice but to drive single-handedly. The DeLorean sped away, the Bus following._

_May looked at the blood all over Blaze. Most of it was his. She softly began to cry at what Blaze had done for her. She realized that Ash and Drew had suffered too, and she wept at the fact that it was all her fault. Her leg stung and she winced. She knew it was nothing compared to what Blaze and Ash were feeling, though._

_Blaze was livid. "Come on, move," he muttered. He hit the speedometer. "Dang it."_

_May looked at the rearview mirror and gasped in horror as she saw the Libyan trying to aim a bazooka launcher. "Blaze, the terrorists!" she yelled._

_Blaze looked at his rearview mirror. "Holy crap," he muttered. He gestured toward his semiautomatic. May nodded, broke the glass with the back of the gun, and began shooting. Ash did the same with his, only he used the left window, to avoid getting caught in the line of fire of May._

_"Let's see if you lunatics can do ninety," said Blaze. He pressed the gas pedal almost all the way to the floor._

_Blaze saw the cliff. They were approaching it, fast. Braking wouldn't help at all. He suddenly got an idea. "Alakazam, we need you!" he said, calling out his trusty pal._

_"Alakazam," said Alakazam._

_"Everybody, grab on!" yelled Blaze. May grabbed Alakazam's right arm; Ash grabbed the other. Blaze held onto its waist. "Alakazam, Teleport!" The car flew off the edge and was mere seconds from crashing._

_"Alaaaaaakazam!" yelled Alakazam._

_The Libyans could not stop, and went off the cliff as well. Both vehicles crashed, and the bazooka blew everything into oblivion._

_Blaze, Alakazam, May and Ash appeared on the edge of the cliff and looked at the small ball of fire at the bottom._

_Blaze scratched his chin thoughtfully. "You know, that probably hurt a bit." Alakazam, Ash and May fell anime style._

**Some of them want to be abused**

_Drew walked up. "Forgetting someone?" He revealed a bulletproof vest._

_May gasped. "Drew!" She caught him off guard with a huge hug._

_"Choking… not breathing…" gasped Drew._

_Ash, Blaze and Alakazam sweatdropped._

_"Should we tell him about wrecking his car and blowing up his gun?" whispered Ash._

_"Let's not and say we did," said Blaze._

_"Alakazam," agreed Alakazam._

**Haahaaaahaaaaa**

**Ooooooh**

**Hold your head up**

**Keep your head up**

**Move along**

**Hold your head up**

**Move along**

**Keep your head up**

**Move along**

**Hold your head up**

**Move along**

**Keep your head up**

**Move along**

**Hold your head up**

**Move along**

**Keep your head up**

_"You ready?"_

_"Yeah."_

_Blaze turned to May and Drew. "You lovebirds ready?"_

_Drew and May blushed. "Yeah."_

_They all fainted._

**Some of them want to use you**

**Some of them want to get used by you**

**Some of them want to abuse you**

**Some of them want to be abused**

**Haaahaaahaaaoahaa**

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree**

**I travel the world and the seven seas**

**Everybody's looking for something**

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree**

**I travel the world and the seven seas**

**Everybody's looking for something**

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree**

**I travel the world and the seven seas**

**Everybody's looking for something**

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree**

**I travel the world and the seven seas**

**Everybody's looking for something**

**Sweet dreams are made of this**

**Who am I to disagree**

**I travel the world and the seven seas**

**Everybody's looking for something**

**Sweet dreams… (fade out)**

May finished her song and the audience went wild. Once they had all continued with what they were doing, Ash and Drew got up and went to go find a few snacks.

Blaze stood up, winced, and sat back down. May helped him backstage and sat him down. She sat across from him. "Are you okay?" she asked him.

Blaze smiled weakly. "You know the guy who said that paper cuts are the worst kind of pain?" He made a noise like a buzzer. "Wrong."

May giggled. Her face soon turned serious. "You didn't have to do that, you know. You almost died!"

Blaze arched an eyebrow. "So?"

"You mean- you don't mind?"

"Well, I could definitely go without the bullet holes-"

May put a finger to his lips. "You know that's not what I meant. You mean you would actually go through all that just to save me?"

"I did just that, didn't I?"

May's eyes shone. She embraced him in a bone-crushing hug. Blaze's shoulder was burning, and he felt a rib crack.

"Ack…" said Blaze. "You cracked a rib…"

She let go. "Sorry." She giggled.

Blaze still wasn't sure where May was going with this. "Ash and Drew helped too, though," he pointed out.

"They were only trying to get the hey outta there, Blaze. You actually saved me. I can't thank you enough."

"One thanks is fine with me, May. You know that."

She grinned mischievously. "Not for me." She leaned in toward Blaze's face and lip-locked him.

They broke apart after about a minute. Blaze looked at her and arched an eyebrow.

May smiled. "Thanks, Blaze." She began kissing him again, and it seemed to last forever.

Ash, Drew, and Alakazam walked in on them.

Ash grinned. "May, I thought you had better behavior than this."

May blushed furiously. Blaze laughed and put an arm around her neck.

"You lovebirds ready?" said Drew, imitating Blaze.

"Yeah," said May and Blaze.

They all fainted.

**You know what to do, Alakazam.**

**Alakazam: Review!**


	2. Men in Black?

**All righty, one-shot #2.**

**This fanfic is AshxMisty, DrewxMay, and MaxxDawn.**

**Here are your ages.**

**Blaze – 22**

**Ash – 19**

**Misty – 21**

**Brock – 24**

**Drew – 16**

**May – 16**

**Dawn – 13**

**Max – 13**

**Enjoy!**

_There were seven young adults at the Pokemon Center in front of the public computers/videophones. The males all wore black suits. One was a man in his early twenties who had dark brown hair with red streaks in it, black eyes, and black thin-rimmed glasses. Another, a man who was almost in his twenties, had messy raven hair, chocolate eyes, and a zigzag line on each cheek. The third, in his mid-twenties, had spiky brown hair, tan skin, and narrow eyes. The fourth, a teenager, had green hair, emerald eyes, and a red rose in his lapel. The last was a young teenager with jet-black hair, the same color eyes, and thick glasses. The two females wore black bodysuits. One, a brunette teenager, had sapphire eyes, and she wore a black bandanna on her head. The other, a blunette, barely a teenager, had light blue eyes, and pins in her hair._

"Do you think that Misty's home?" asked Ash, the raven-haired young man.

"Seriously, what's your problem, Ash? If she's not home, just leave her a message," said Blaze, the man with red streaks in his hair. "Unless, of course, you wanna tell her you have a thing for her in person."

"SHUT UP!" yelled Ash. Drew, the one with green hair, and Max, the young teenager with black hair and glasses, laughed.

"I just wanna talk to her. It's been months, y'know. And I do NOT have a thing for her, by the way," said Ash indignantly.

"Yeah right," said Blaze sarcastically. "You're as obvious as Brock with all the Jennys and Joys."

May, the brunette, popped up behind Drew and put her arms around his neck. "He's right, you know, Ash," said May.

Dawn, the blunette, popped up behind Max and put her arms around his neck. "I didn't even think that was possible," she commented.

Ash, Drew, Max and even Brock, the spiky-haired young man, all blushed. Blaze laughed.

"I guess I'm the only single around here who's not looking for someone," he said. "But, as long as I still get to make fun of you lot, I don't really care!"

**(Did you think I could only hook Blaze and May? Think again!)**

Dawn slapped Blaze across the face. "Shut your trap, loser. Having a girlfriend might knock some sense into you, you know."

Ash, Max and Brock backed away.

Blaze looked away. "I tried that a long time ago. I thought she was perfect, and she seemed to think so too." He turned to Dawn. Fire was burning in his eyes. "She started doing drugs with some gang or something. Last time I saw her, she was an ecstasy addict hanging by a rope from a bridge. That was about three years ago." He put up a fist. "So, in a way, it did knock some sense into me. So don't EVER talk crap to me about not having a girlfriend AGAIN."

Dawn was horrified. "Blaze… I didn't know…"

"Didn't know? Well, now you do, so please try not to do that again, Dawn. Vent on Max or something. He's your boyfriend."

"Hey!" said Max angrily. "Just because she's my girlfriend doesn't mean-"

"Yes it does," said Blaze and Dawn in unison.

"Then do I get to vent on her?" asked Max.

"No-" Dawn began.

"Sure do, Maxie," said Blaze.

"Hey!" said Dawn. "No fair!"

"Before, it wasn't fair. Now it is."

"Can we move on?" asked Drew. "I'm falling asleep here."

"Sure, Drew," said Blaze. We were just gonna see if Ash is gonna call his crush or chicken out on it."

Ash was fuming. "SHE'S NOT MY CRUSH!"

"Then who is, Ashy boy?"

"NOBODY!"

Blaze snorted. "I can see through you like a Luxray."

Brock turned to Blaze. "You, sir, are a very astute observer," he commented.

"Just call her," said Max. "Just say hello, for all we care."

"Though confessing your love to Misty in a Shakespeare-esque speech would be pretty funny," chuckled Blaze.

Ash was fuming. "I DON'T LOVE HER!"

Blaze waved him away. "Sure, whatever. Just talk to her already."

"RING RING RING! RING RING RING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL! RING RING RING! RING RING RING! PHONE CALL! PHONE CALL!"

Misty looked up. _What's the point? _she thought. _I hope it's Ash every time, but it's always a prank phone call or someone calling in advance for a battle. _She decided to ignore it. But, her newly evolved Marill had other plans.

Marill ran to the counter in the kitchen and bounced up to the computer/videophone and pressed a button. "Marill?" she asked.

"Hello," said a voice. "Is this the Cerulean Gym?"

"Marill!" said Marill. It recognized the voice.

"Great! Uh, I didn't know that the Cerulean Gym had a Marill." The voice paused. "Did you… evolve from Misty Waterflower's Azurill?"

"Marill!" said Marill happily. Suddenly, the camera flicked from the VOICE ONLY screen to the face of a quite handsome young man in a black suit. It was exactly who Marill thought it was. Ash Ketchum, of Pallet Town. Marill had known Ash for as long as it could remember.

"It is you, Azur- I mean, Marill! Is Misty there?"

"Yeah, Marill, we're getting restless here!" came another voice. Suddenly, Firedusk Darkblitz, who went by Blaze, shoved Ash out of the way. "The entire gang's here, and we're all waiting for Ash's Shakespeare speech- OUCH!"

Ash had punched him out of the way. Marill giggled. It turned to face the stairs. "MARILL! MARILL MARILL!" it yelled.

"What's wrong, Marill?" said Misty's voice. "Is it another call for a gym battle?"

Misty came to the screen, and what she saw took her breath away. On the screen were her crush, Ash Ketchum, her best friend Blaze, and in the background were Brock, Drew (with May's arms around his neck), and Max (with Dawn's arms around his neck).

"Misty! Earth to Misty! This is Ground Control! Wake up, Misty! Hello? You there?" Blaze's voice brought Misty back to her senses.

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, it's just so great to see you all- Wait a sec. Why are you all wearing black suit coats and bodysuits? You guys look like secret agents or something."

Ash seemed unable to speak, so Blaze did instead. "Can we tell you when we come to visit?"

She was speechless. "You wanna visit?"

"We'll pay for any trouble," said Blaze seriously. "If you don't want us to swing by, we won't-"

Misty cut Blaze off. "I would have asked you anyway. And you don't have to bother paying for anything."

"But we want to."

"You can pay me with you and Brock's cooking. Deal?"

Blaze grinned. "Works for me." He turned to Ash and waved his hand in front of his face. "Hello? Ketchum? Anybody home? Huh? Hellllllloooooooo?" Blaze finally lost patience and hit Ash over the head with his frying pan. Ash fell backwards, and Misty heard a _THUMP._

Blaze continued as if nothing had happened. "So, will you be ready for us in a week? Ash can give you his Shakespeare speech then."

May let go of Drew, walked up behind Blaze, and kicked him in the calf.

"OUCH!" yelled Blaze. "Hey, I might need that sometime, May!"

"Be nice!" she scolded. Misty giggled.

"But you were saying the same thing a few minutes ago-" Blaze protested.

May brought Blaze down with another kick, this time in the other calf. "See ya in a week, Misty!" she said, and hung up.

**ONE WEEK LATER**

Misty heard the front door slide open, and immediately jumped up and was there to greet her guests before you could say Kangaskhan.

"Hiya, Misty!" said May, Blaze and Max at the same time.

"It's good to see you, Misty," said Brock and Dawn.

"I've heard great things about you, Misty," said Drew.

And, of course, Ash was unable to speak.

Blaze punched him. "Wake up, weirdo. We're here."

Ash came back to his senses. "Hey, Misty," he said quietly.

Blaze grinned. "Sorry about Ash. He didn't quite memorize his Shakespeare speech to tell you that he l-"

Blaze was cut short by Ash's fist in his gut, Misty's mallet on his head, Max's foot in his groin, and a third kick in the calf by May.

"SHUT UP ALREADY!" they all yelled.

Blaze was bending over; he was covering his groin with one hand, and he was holding his head with the other. Everybody saw that his head had been split open, and his calf was completely black and blue. His eyes shone, and he ran/limped away.

"Do you idiots see what you've done?" yelled Brock. "You've hurt Blaze; badly too. Who knows where he's going. Something could happen to him! Come on, let's get him!" He dashed off, followed by Max, Dawn, Ash and Misty.

Drew did not move. His chartreuse hair waved in the wind, as if to say "Adios, amigo."

May put a hand on his shoulder.

"Why did you hurt him so much?" asked Drew without looking at her.

May thought. "So he would shut up," she said quietly.

"You've shut him up permanently, May," said Drew. He turned to her. "Even if he does survive, he's not coming back."

"Survive?" asked May.

"He might die, May," said Drew quietly.

May took a step back. She might have _killed _him?

"Yes, May. You might've killed him," he said, as if he read her mind.

"I didn't know-"

"Well, now you do," said Drew. He turned and walked away.

May sat down and cried.

When they found Blaze, he was unconscious. They took him to the hospital, but they knew it was hopeless. He died the next day. There was no funeral; for Misty, Dawn, May, Ash, Brock, Max and Drew were the only friends he ever had; he had no family. Nobody cared about him. People went on as if he never existed. Because they didn't know he did. Even if they did, they would've either beaten him or ignored him. That had been the way of life for Blaze, and that was the way of his death.

Ash and Misty confessed their love for each other, and were married four years after Blaze's death. Two years later, (when Ash was 25 and Misty was 27) they had a daughter, and a year after that, they had another. When Ash was 31, he was shot on the way home from work. Misty and her two daughters were devastated. The older daughter, Sadie Ketchum, fell into a state of depression; she killed herself at 14. The younger, Kaitlyn Ketchum, was made fun of so much that she ran away at 16 and was never found again. Misty finally gave up living and died of excessive drinking at 47.

Brock was walking home one day with Forrest from Forrest's date when a car hit them. (It hit them when they were on the sidewalk). They were found tangled in a bloody mess by another pedestrian and rushed to the hospital. Forrest barely survived, but Brock wasn't so lucky. He died the next day. He was 29. Forrest was 21.

When Max was 18, he decided it was time to marry Dawn. He proposed, and she gladly accepted. They lived together happily for a few months, but then got the news that Brock had been killed. They shared a few tears, but their life kept going. They had their first child, a boy named Blaze Maple, when they were 20. One day, when Max was 25, he was riding home with Ash from work (they both worked together) when they were both shot. Misty and Dawn often cried each other to sleep at night. Six-year-old Sadie, almost-six-year-old Blaze and five-year-old Kaitlyn always looked out for each other from that day on. The thirteen-year-olds Blaze and Kaitlyn could not believe it when Sadie killed herself. They often cried to each other until they became sick. Nevertheless, Blaze and Kaitlyn had their first kiss the night after Sadie committed suicide. They had finally found a speck of comfort in their world of chaos. Blaze noticed that Kaitlyn had been made fun of a lot, and began to protect her from the bullies. One day, when the two were 16, Blaze got beaten up so badly protecting Kaitlyn that he had to spend a few weeks in the hospital. Kaitlyn overheard the doctors saying that Blaze had a 10 chance of surviving. She promptly ran away, saying that she would join all her friends and relatives someday. Nevertheless, Blaze survived, and went home, only to find out. He fell into a depression, much like Sadie had before. When he was nineteen, his mother, Dawn Maple (age 39) drank herself to death with Misty Ketchum. Blaze was alone.

May was overcome with grief when Blaze (the first one) died; but when Drew proposed to May when they were 21, she gratefully said yes. They got married right around when Max and Dawn got married; Max was May and Drew's best man, and Drew was Max and Dawn's best man. They had a son named Alex a year later, and a year after that, they had a daughter named Holly. One day, when Drew and May were 28, Drew was walking back to the Pewter City Gym with Brock and Forrest when a car smashed into them. The car contained the bodies of Ash and Max. May cried herself to sleep alone every night. Six-year-old Alex and five-year-old Holly, along with Sadie, Blaze and Kaitlyn, formed a sort of band that looked out for each other. Alex and Sadie kissed when they were 13, and for once, they had found happiness. One day, when Alex and Sadie were 14, and Blaze, Kaitlyn and Holly were 13, the gang got into a fight with another group. Alex and Blaze were badly injured, and Holly got a concussion, but Kaitlyn and Sadie escaped unharmed. Blaze survived and later recovered, but Alex wasn't so lucky. He died the next day, the day before he turned 15. Sadie was horrified. Blaze, Kaitlyn and Holly tried to comfort her, but she killed herself that night. By then, all the kids owned semiautomatics for protection. Blaze put Alex and Sadie's guns in his own possession. The day after Alex and Sadie died, on Alex's birthday, Blaze and Kaitlyn had their first kiss together. Holly seemed to drift away from the two. She was afraid that they would die too. The day before Holly turned 16, Blaze got into a bad fight with another gang that was trying to abuse Kaitlyn. He put up a good fight; he shot and killed almost all of the other gang, until the leader, the last one, shot Blaze in the shoulder, the hand, and the foot. Holly and Kaitlyn promptly shot the leader to death. He was put in critical care, and Kaitlyn overheard the doctors. Holly tried her best to stop Kaitlyn, but Kaitlyn ran away anyway. Holly ended up being the one to tell Blaze about it. They both fell into a depression. Blaze gave Holly Alex's gun, saying that she deserved it. When Blaze and Holly were 19, Dawn and Misty drank themselves to death. May was 42. May soon was shot as well. Blaze and Holly were so enraged that they shot the entire gang that killed May. Soon enough, Blaze and Holly were the only ones left.

One day, when Blaze and Holly were 23, and were living with Brock's younger siblings (there were only three siblings left due to all of those gangs), someone bombed their house. The remainder of Brock's siblings were killed. Blaze and Holly managed to escape.

Blaze couldn't take it anymore. "I'M FED UP WITH THIS KILLING CRAP! I CAN'T TAKE IT! THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN KILLING IN OUR LIVES! I CAN'T TAKE IT!"

Holly, as always, managed to calm him down. "This is what's made us so tough, Blaze. We're loners."

"You're right. We're loners. There's none of us left! Even Tracey Sketchit got shot last week! There's none of us left!"

He looked out into the sunset, his hair waving as Drew's did thirty years before. "I figured out why so many of us got killed, and why there was so much irony in how we got killed."

Holly was intrigued. "Why, Blaze?"

"It was Blaze's ghost. You know, the one from 30 years ago. He possessed all those gangs."

She was shocked, but somehow she immediately knew it was true. "Why?"

"He wanted friends, just like we did. You knew what he was like. He had no friends except in his group, no family, either. He couldn't bear to leave all of his friends, the only people he ever loved. That's why they were all wearing black that night. Blaze told them to, because he knew that night would trigger a chain of events that would kill them all. They agreed, even though they had no idea."

A ghastly shape appeared before them. It turned into someone who looked exactly like Blaze Maple did a year before. The figure turned solid. "You hit it right on the nose, Maple. You're the only one who figured it out. You and Holly are great people, and I love you both, more than you can imagine. You guys are so important to me, you don't even know."

Holly was confused. "You're Blaze?"

"You really are smart, Holly," said Blaze.

"Why'd you kill everybody?"

"I wanted them to be near, and, not to mention, I was doing them a favor. Death for them was like a blessing."

Just then, Ash, Misty, Drew, May, Dawn, Max, Sadie, Alex, Kaitlyn, Tracey, Brock, and all of Brock's little brothers and sisters appeared behind Blaze. Ash and Misty Ketchum, Drew and May Hayden, Dawn and Max Maple, and Sadie Ketchum and Alex Hayden were all holding hands. Next to Blaze's side was someone with black hair (and green streaks), glasses like Blaze and Blaze Maple's, and a ghostly rose in his lapel. Everybody turned solid.

Blaze Maple and Holly Hayden smiled. The mystery person was smiling at Holly. She couldn't help but smile back. She somehow recognized him, but she didn't know why.

Blaze grinned. "Ah, Holly, I see you're wondering who this is. This is Ethan Maple, Blaze Maple's little brother. Technically, he's three years younger than Blaze is."

Blaze Maple was shocked. "Say WHAT? I have a little brother?"

"Yep," answered the older Blaze. "He was adopted by someone else. They treated him so badly that he died last week." Ethan looked down. Holly got up and went over to him to comfort him. She couldn't help but love him.

"That sounds horrible. I'm so sorry," said Holly soothingly.

Ethan Maple looked up and smiled. "So we're cousins separated by death, eh, Holly?"

She laughed. "Guess so." She kissed him on the cheek.

He arched an eyebrow, a perfect carbon copy of Blaze and Blaze Maple's trademark. They both shrugged and began kissing.

Blaze Maple laughed. "I guess Holly finally found someone."

The older Blaze gagged. "I still have trouble with it. I can't help it."

Just then, Kaitlyn Ketchum walked up to him and sat down next to him. She leaned onto his shoulder. "I missed you, Blaze," she said quietly.

Blaze Maple spun her around and kissed her on the lips in one smooth motion. She kissed back as much as she could.

Brock laughed. "I guess most of us are now related in some way or another."

Blaze and Kaitlyn broke apart. Kaitlyn was grinning ear to ear. "So, do you wanna join us?" she asked him.

"What do you think?" said Blaze.

She kissed him again, and they broke apart after a few seconds. "Yeah," they both said in unison.

Blaze Maple pulled out his and Kaitlyn's guns. "When in Rome," he said. He put each gun to a side of his head and pulled. He fell over, dead. There was blood and brain tissue everywhere.

Max turned to Dawn. "There's something really cool about having your own son blow his own brains out, you know?"

She elbowed him. "Be nice!"

Blaze Maple appeared in a silvery shape. He turned solid. He held his head. "What a headache," he complained. "My ears are ringing."

Sadie and Kaitlyn laughed. "You'll get used to it," they said at the same time.

Holly and Ethan broke apart. Holly was jumping up and down. "Ooh! Ooh! My turn! My turn!" She pulled out her and Alex's guns. "Do as the Romans do!" she cheered. She fell over in a big blast. Her blood and brain tissue mingled with Blaze Maple's.

She reappeared and solidified. She held her head. "Geez, you're right, Blaze. It's Migraine City!"

"You'll get used to it," everyone said together.


	3. Coke Zero at Red Red Ruby High I

**I altered the ages for this story. This won't be a one shot, mind you. Just so you know.**

**Blaze – 16**

**May – 15**

**Drew – 15**

**Ash – 15**

**Brock – 17**

**Max – 14**

**Melody – 14**

**Paul – 16**

**Richie – 15**

**Kenny – 15**

**Misty – 16**

**Dawn – 15**

**Zoey – 16**

_Ugh, disgusting_, thought Blaze. _English._ Half of the class was making out, and the other half had their heads on their desks, waiting for this Mewforsaken excuse for a class to end. To put it simply, high school sucked right now. Blaze couldn't believe that the teacher wasn't even noticing ten people sucking each other's faces. Geez, disgusting.

Blaze was a sophomore, and one of the lesser of the class (as in, he was VERY unpopular). But, he liked it that way. He was either going to be left alone, or be chased by zombies that eat peoples' faces. That wasn't even a choice.

Actually, he was really good friends with May and Drew, some of the most popular kids in school. He had earned himself a title as royal bodyguard; he always got rid of fan boys and fan girls chasing after them. And, just for the record, he kicked _butt. _Don't get on Blaze's bad side, that was a rule of thumb at Ruby High. Most people hated his guts, but they knew not to mess with him. For that, May and Drew respected him, and vice versa, and he liked it. He was part of a gang that was led by May and Drew. This included May and Drew, of course, Blaze, Ash, Brock (Brock was a junior), Max (May's little brother, a freshman), Paul, Richie, Kenny, Misty, Dawn, Zoey, and Melody (Drew's little sister, a freshman). The thirteen always sat at the same table at lunch; they were inseparable. Anybody to stand up to those thirteen was looking at being a permanent pulp. Blaze wasn't the only one to get rid of people that tried to mess with them; everybody else would help out too. But, enough about that. Let's go back to Blaze's torture.

He looked at the clock. It said there was a minute left, but he would've sworn in the name of Celebi that the clock was ticking backwards. _Giratina, just take me now,_ thought Blaze. He cursed under his breath.

Drew and Max were on both sides of Blaze. (Max is taking Honors English 10 too. Don't ask me why.) They looked at him questioningly. He gestured to the clock. They nodded in understanding, and soon the three were praying to Arceus to get them out of there.

The bell rang, and the three boys were outta that heckhole before you could say Cresselia. They ran to their lockers, threw their stuff inside, grabbed their lunchboxes (the school food was basically a menu fit for a Muk), ran into the cafeteria, and dropped onto their usual bench. Their heads hit the table like Golems.

"Ugh, that class isn't even a class," said Drew. "What happened to dignity?"

"Define dignity," muttered Blaze.

"Something that never existed at Ruby High," groaned Max.

Suddenly, fan girls surrounded Drew. Blaze held up a PokéBall threateningly, as if it was a dagger. They were gone in an instant.

Drew put a hand on Blaze's shoulder. "Thanks."

"Weirdos," Blaze muttered.

Ash and Brock sat down. "How was English?" asked Brock jokingly.

"Those blood-suckers speak more in the language of tongue than English," said Blaze disgustedly.

"You know, tongue is another word for language," commented Max. "Isn't that ironic?"

"What's also ironic is that you say that, but you're in that class," said Ash. "Have you joined them or something?"

Blaze gagged. "Luckily, no, he hasn't."

Brock looked up. "Here comes the rival squad."

Paul, Kenny and Richie walked up. Everybody knew that Paul and Richie were rivals with Ash, while Kenny was a rival with Dawn and Zoey.

"Rival squad, eh, Brock?" said Richie. "That's new." He and Ash were practically twins in both looks and personality.

"BOO!" Someone's voice came out from right behind Max; it was Melody. Blaze would've bet a seven-digit sum that he jumped a meter in the air. Max fell backwards and did a back roll onto his stomach. He groaned.

Melody and Blaze high-fived.

"That was priceless," said Blaze. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"That's my job," said Melody. She turned to Max. "That was hilarious. You should start high jumping, Max."

"You should start shutting your trap, Melody," came the reply. "So funny I forgot to laugh." He sat back down.

In response to Max's retort, everybody except Paul, Brock and Max were practically rolling with laughter.

Dawn and Zoey walked up and sat down. "What?"

"Max just learned how to high jump," said Richie. He hiccupped.

Dawn and Zoey looked at each other. They made a mental note to ask Blaze or Brock later.

May and Misty finished the group of the Royal Thirteen. "I don't even wanna know," muttered May.

Blaze looked at her. She was sitting right next to him. "I know, drafting's really boring. I took it last year. Something I'm never doing again."

She looked at him and smiled. "Gee, thanks for those strong words of comfort, Blaze," she said sarcastically. "I see English was a hoot."

Blaze, Drew and Max responded by dropping their heads onto the table. "The Hoothoot that hooted about that is missing a gear somewhere in its head," muttered Blaze.

Ash and Brock dropped their heads. "Chemistry wasn't the best either," they muttered.

May and Misty dropped their heads. "What a bore," they grumbled.

"My advice: take a nap," said Blaze.

Dawn and Zoey dropped theirs. "Algebra sucks," they declared.

"Any more breaking news?" asked Blaze dully.

Melody dropped hers. "Biology's a walk in the park," she muttered.

Paul, Richie and Kenny dropped theirs. "Yeesh, Spanish is a bunch of crap," complained Kenny.

"At least nobody in your class is a face-eating zombie," said Max and Drew together.

Somebody walked by the Royal Thirteen table and wondered why in the name of Jirachi they would be praying like that. He shrugged it off and walked away.

They ate in silence. Everybody finished in ten minutes.

"Firedusk Darkblitz to the office. Firedusk Darkblitz," sang the intercom.

"Oh joy," groaned Blaze. "Oh bliss. Isn't life wonderful?"

Ash and Richie snickered.

"I'll come with ya, Blaze," said May cheerfully. "I don't have anything else to do."

"Suit yourself," said Blaze. "They're probably putting me in suspension for no reason again."

They left, and ten of the remaining eleven continued talking. Max was, however, interested in what Blaze was in for. He decided to follow them at a distance.

May sipped her Sierra Mist Free. "Why would they suspend you if you have a four point and you never get in trouble?"

"Beats me," said Blaze. He took a gulp of his Sprite zero. "They probably wanna get rid of the Royal Thirteen bodyguard so they can kidnap you and Drew or something."

Max snickered to himself. Blaze had always been the guy with a sense of humor. He often wondered why Blaze could cope with all the crap everybody put on him every day, let alone make a wise crack every now and then.

May laughed. "You're probably right. I can't think of any other reason for the life of me."

They chuckled together.

_Huh, _thought Max. _They'd make a good couple._

They made it to the front desk. Max was hiding behind a locker.

"D'you need me for something?" asked Blaze politely. **(He could have manners when he needed to, but it was a rare occasion.)**

"Your father would like to speak to you, Firedusk," said the secretary.

Blaze's face fell. "Just call me Blaze," he muttered. He picked up the phone. _It's a good thing this phone doesn't have a monitor. May would kill me if she saw my dad, _he thought.

"What the heck do you want?" asked Blaze.

_Apparently, he's not on very good terms with his dad,_ thought Max and May at the same time.

"Now, that's not a very nice way to speak to your old man," said a voice.

"Like I care what you think is nice or not. What the heck do you want? And I already told you, I'm not giving you any money. You're already completely drunk as it is."

"Actually, I'm completely sober right now, kid," said the voice. "So's your mom."

"Mom doesn't drink, idiot," Blaze spat. "For the last time, what the heck do you want?"

"Just wanna tell you that your mom's dead," said the voice.

May covered her mouth. Blaze swore very loudly. Max couldn't hear Blaze's dad, but he knew Blaze wasn't very happy with what he just said.

"I thought I told you not to cuss. You're not good at it," said the voice.

"Screw you!" Blaze yelled. "I'm better at it then practically everybody at school, cause I don't do it very often. It has more of an impact then. Anyway, SCREW YOU!"

"What?" asked the voice angrily.

"What are you, idiot, deaf AND stupid? I said screw you! You killed Mom?!"

Max was shocked. _So that's it,_ he thought. _Poor guy. Mom's dead and his dad's a raving maniac._

"Well, I just wanted to call to say that I'm comin' to kill you too. You're too much trouble. Oh, and if any a yer gang tries to save ya, they're dead meat too."

May was horrified. She had her face against Blaze's to try to listen in by now. Normally, she would have blushed, but this was different.

Blaze's head dropped onto the counter. "Oh good, he muttered. "Great. Terrific. Splendid. Brilliant. Just swell. You shot Mom and now you're gonna come rip my guts out. Man, this day just gets better and better. Why dontcha just drop my butt in English again? That'll kill me just as well."

"Actually," said the voice, "I killed Mom with my possessed Mightyena. But, if it pleases you, I'll shoot you. Bye." He hung up.

Blaze looked at May. "Well, now I know that English isn't the worst thing that can happen to you."

May pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. He couldn't do anything but hug her back.

May looked at him. For the first time in Blaze's life, he saw pure horror on someone's face. Her eyes were shining. She was trembling. Tears left streaks on her face. She was sweating.

She began crying into his chest. She was clinging to his jacket like a newborn Eevee.

"You never told me that your dad was a heck-bent drunk killing maniac."

"You never asked," murmured Blaze softly. "Not to mention, it's kinda hard to tell people that. And to think, I really like Mightyena."

She looked up at him and was surprised to see tears come out of his eyes. There were only a few, and they were far between. Max was surprised that his eyes were watering too.

"Crap," muttered Blaze. "Now what?"

**Yep, a cliffhanger. Wanna see what happens next? Review, and I'll tell you.**


	4. Coke Zero at Red Red Ruby High II

"You were watching us, weren't you, Max?" yelled May. She had her hands on her hips, the furled eyebrows; in other words, she was _livid._ **(I really like that word.)**

Max had been caught by Blaze, right in the middle of the sad scene.

**(May: Hey! I wasn't that sad!**

**Darkblitz: Read the last chapter. May runs away, and then comes back**

**May: Ah, I get your drift. Move along!**

**Darkblitz: Geez, I can't get a break nowadays.)**

"Well," said Max timidly, "I, uh…"

"Good grief, mawn! (Man in a German accent) We're in a hurry!" said Blaze angrily. "Spit it out so we can move on!"

"Yes! I did! Geez, you're driving me loco!" yelled Max.

Blaze put on a mock smile. "Gee, really? Oh, I'm so sorry, Max, I'm just MAD THAT MY FRICKIN' CRAPPY EXCUSE FOR A DAD HAS KILLED MY MOM AND IS CURRENTLY COMING HERE TO BLAST OUR HEADS INTO LITTLE ITTY BITTY PIECES THAT COULD BE MISTAKEN FOR DUST!" He was fuming by the end of the sentence.

**(May: Mew, he can get mad.**

**Darkblitz: You were just as mad, May.**

**May: Oh yeah. Continue!**

**Darkblitz: Oh, boy…)**

Max couldn't take both his big sister and his best friend being mad at him like that. He broke into tears and ran away.

Blaze cursed under his breath. "Now I've done it," he muttered. He sat down in the middle of the hall and buried his face in his hands. Tears silently ran down Blaze's face.

May put her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. She smelled the orange scent in his hair. _Mmm, smells like the conditioner I use, _she thought. _Wait a minute, I don't know that many boys that use conditioner at all, let alone orange conditioner. Stop the tape… May, what are you thinking? Your best friend's dad just killed his mom and is now coming to kill him, and you only think about his hair?_

Drew, Brock, and Kenny ran up, Richie and Max tailing them.

"Max was yelling a bunch of crap at us that we couldn't understand," said Drew. "What's going on?" **(Sorry, Drew's not really the jerk in this story.)**

A smile broke out on Kenny's face. "Why are you hugging him like that? Is it because you-"

Brock kicked him in the ankle. Kenny fell over.

"Seriously, cut the crap," said Brock sternly. "Something's wrong. Look at Blaze. I've never seen him cry, let alone cry like this. What's wrong with him, May?"

She looked up at him. Brock saw that she had been crying too.

"Blaze's dad called just now," she said quietly. "He killed Blaze's mom, and now he's coming after Blaze. He'll kill us too if he gets the chance."

Richie couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He's coming to the _school_? Won't somebody find him here?"

"These stupid excuses for teachers don't notice ten people making out with each other when it's right under their noses," Blaze pointed out. "They wouldn't see Major Tom coming home." **(I really like that song. It's called Major Tom (Coming Home), by Peter Schilling. I'm listening to it right now. :D)**

"Blaze's dad is a raving maniac?" said Drew in disbelief.

"Well, at least now we know where Blaze got it from," chuckled Kenny.

Blaze turned away from the group. "You just don't get it, do you? Well, you're right about one thing; I'm pretty close to ripping your guts out, Kenny." He sighed. Tears began running down his face. "He always beat Mom, and he would beat me too, if he got the chance. Too bad I was never around."

"Holdup," said Drew. "You mean that you were never home?"

"That's right," said Max slowly. "He's always over at one of our places after school, right?"

Everybody nodded. May blushed at the thought. Blaze _was _at her house a lot, around twice a week. He'd even stayed over weekends occasionally. For some reason, though, nobody ever asked him why, except for her. When she did, he simply stated that he liked being with his friends a lot, and then he walked away.

Blaze buried his face in his arms. He was shivering. "That's because if I went home, I'd get the crap beaten outta me. I had nowhere else to go. I just felt so guilty not… taking Mom away… too…" He finally broke down. He was violently shivering; it looked like he was seizing. May wrapped her arms around him. He instantly began to calm down. It seemed May was the only person, or thing, for that matter, that could calm him down. May was too worried about Blaze to even blush.

Max was scared. "What do we do? Blaze's dad is gonna kill him, and us, too."

Blaze suddenly stood up, and so did May. "Well," he said, "I'm not planning on getting blown to pieces by some alcohol-driven maniac, and I'm not changing my plans either," he declared.

May smiled. This was the Blaze she knew and loved.

_Wait,_ thought May suddenly. _Do I? Or is he just a friend and… _she shuddered, _…bodyguard? _She quickly shook it off.

Blaze walked over to the soda machine and inserted a dollar bill. May followed, thinking that he was just getting another Sprite zero. Instead, he pressed the Diet Coke button.

Drew gasped and ran up to Blaze, putting a hand on his shoulder. May did the same, only she realized that her hand was already on his shoulder.

"What're you doing?!" said Drew incredulously. "Don't you remember what happened at the end of the year party in June?"

"I do," said Blaze quietly.

"We almost got killed for putting that hole in the roof," May reminded Blaze.

"This time," said Blaze, "we're not the ones that're gonna get killed." He pulled out the Diet Coke bottle, and then got two bottles of Coke zero, two of Sprite zero, two of Fanta (orange), and two of Sierra Mist Free.. Finally, he got another Diet Coke. _Boy, I never knew I had that many ones,_ thought Blaze.

He pulled a big package of Mentos out of his right pocket. "All right, gang, lets get trapping," he said, opening a Sprite zero and holding it up. "We got us some Mentos and Coke to set up." He handed Drew the two Fantas and May the two Sierra Mists.

"They're on me," he whispered. He was grinning. He turned to everybody else, who had just been joined by Ash, Paul, Misty, Dawn, Zoey, and Melody. He quickly explained to the last six. "You're gonna have to buy yours yourself; I'm fresh out of ones," he said finally. "And don't worry about skipping," he added. "They won't even notice."

Everybody laughed and ran to the pop machine.

They worked for the last three hours of the school day on the traps. **(FYI: To make a Mentos and Diet Coke trap, thread a sewing needle, thread the Mentos with it, open the Diet Coke bottle, place the Mentos at the top, being very careful for it not to touch the soda, close it very tightly with the Mentos inside, and cut off the remaining string. I saw it on a video on , and it was hilarious!) **For some reason, Blaze kept a Diet Coke and a Coke zero for himself.

"Why are you keeping those two?" asked May. She was just starting to drink her second Sierra Mist.

Blaze grinned. "My final weapon," he whispered.

May arched an eyebrow, just like Blaze always did. "You sure it's worth it?"

He got an evil look on his face. "It's always worth it, May."

She laughed.

Drew popped up behind him. "We're all set, Blaze."

Drew and Blaze gave each other a high-five. "You're the best, man," said Blaze. "I guess popular people aren't as bad as I thought."

May put on her angry face. "What, I've never given you a clue?"

Blaze sweatdropped. "No, it's not that, I just-"

May cut him off. "Am I really that bad?" she asked him.

Blaze sensed the sincerity in her voice. He pulled her close with his right arm. "May, how could you ask me that? You're one of the greatest, smartest, and, dare I say it, one of the most attractive people I've ever met. And I mean that."

She looked up at him, and saw that he really did mean it. She grinned mischievously. "Am I really that good-looking?"

"Sure!" came the reply.

May was taken aback. She wasn't really expecting that.

"I was only giving Drew a compliment," said Blaze. "Sorry if it offended you."

May smirked. "Nah, the attractive part made up for it."

Blaze sighed. "I'm never gonna see the end of this, am I?" he muttered under his breath.

May heard it nonetheless. "Nope, you're not."

"If you keep teasing me like that, I'm not gonna give you compliments like that anymore."

Drew was getting restless. "Come on, let's get ready for the attack; I'm getting bored, and I'm not really a fan of all this mushy stuff."

_Too bad,_ May thought.

Blaze fingered the gun he was holding. "I hope this works," he said. "I really don't wanna use this if I don't have to."

May buried her face in his chest, taking in all of his sweet scents. "If you really want, I'll shoot if it comes to it instead," she murmured.

He looked at her. "Why don't we cross that bridge when we come to it?" he suggested.

Blaze turned to the rest of the Thirteen. "Alright, everybody," he said. "Hide behind the bushes in front of the school! Hurry, but DON'T let the Mentos touch the Coke."

Kenny and Dawn were behind one bush; Melody and Max were behind another; Ash, Pikachu, and Misty were behind a tree; Richie, Sparky, Paul, Drew and Brock were behind a hedge, and Zoey was behind another tree. And, of course, Blaze and May were together (behind a blackberry bush, that is). They had their soda ready to fire.

The bell rang, signaling the end of school. In a flash, hundreds of students swarmed out of the school like a hive of angry Beedrill. Luckily, none of them saw the Royal Thirteen.

Just in case, each of the Thirteen had Pokémon with them.

**Here's a list of their Pokémon:**

**Blaze - Blaziken, Wartortle, Leafeon, Empoleon, Toxicroak, Spiritomb**

**May – Blaziken, Glaceon, Beautifly, Venusaur, Wartortle, Munchlax **

**Drew – Roserade, Flygon, Absol, Masquerain, Butterfree**

**Max – Ralts, Mightyena, Shuppet, Shroomish**

**Ash – Pikachu, Staravia, Turtwig, Chimchar, Buizel, Gligar**

**Brock – Sudowoodo, Croagunk, Happiny**

**Richie – Sparky (Pikachu), Zippo (Charmeleon), Happy (Butterfree), Rose (Taillow), Cruise (Pupitar), Eevee**

**Kenny – Prinplup, Alakazam, Breloom**

**Misty – Corsola, Politoed, Gyarados, Starmie, Psyduck, Azurill**

**Paul – Torterra, Electabuzz, Weavile, Honchkrow, Ursaring, Gliscor**

**Zoey – Glameow, Misdreavus, Shellos, Finneon**

**Dawn – Piplup, Buneary, Pachirisu, Ambipom**

**Melody – Mudkip, Piplup, Bulbasaur, Treecko, Charmander, Torchic**

**Whew. Okay, moving on.**

At about 1504 hours, four minutes after school let out, a car pulled up. A Cadillac CTS '08.

Blaze's jaw dropped so far that a Steelix could have slithered into his mouth. He turned to May.

"May, there's something I want to ask you," he whispered.

May seemed alarmed. "What?"

"When you turn your car on, does it return the favor?"

May fell anime-style. (That line was from the Cadillac CTS '08 commercial, in case you didn't know.) "You're a weirdo," gasped May.

"I'll take that as a compliment," muttered Blaze. "What's it take to get a laugh around here?"

Someone stepped out of the car. (Think Tybalt from the Romeo+Juliet movie.)

"Whoa," gasped Ash. "A Mexican."

Blaze's head dropped. _Boy, this is going to be rough,_ he thought.

The man looked around, and made for the school.

Without warning, Blaze slipped out of sight.

May was so busy watching the man that she didn't notice Blaze leave until he did. Fortunately, he was back in a few seconds.

"What were you doing?" asked May.

He looked at his watch. He began mumbling a countdown. "Five, four, three, two, one…"

A fizzing noise was heard, followed by a bubbling, a splatter, and an "Ack! Mentos and Coke!"

This, apparently, was Blaze's cue. He casually walked out into the parking lot. Since the man was preoccupied, he didn't notice Blaze let out his six Pokémon. While Blaziken was adjusting his guitar, Toxicroak was setting up her percussion instruments, Blaze was adjusting his guitar and making sure the microphone was on, and Spiritomb was levitating its keyboard with Psychic, Empoleon sent a Blizzard towards the man.

May could only watch in horror. _Blaze, you're just committing suicide! What're you doing?_

He winked at her, and then said something to Leafeon. Leafeon threw a Shadow Ball into the air, and then hit it towards the man with an Iron Tail.

The Shadow Ball hit the man in the small of the back. He yelped and turned around.

Another Shadow Ball, this time from from Toxicroak (with the help of her Brick Break), smack him in the face.

The Blizzard stopped. Blaze smirked, and he and Blaziken began playing chords on the guitar. Blaziken was using Shadow Claw to play. Toxicroak used Double Team, and all her copies began playing percussion. Spiritomb was using Psychic to both levitate the keyboard and play it.

"Oh no," said Richie. He smacked his face with his hand. "This can't be happening."

Blaze began singing, or at least that's what he called it.

"Let's go!" he yelled.

Drew's jaw dropped. "_Another One Bites the Dust? _Man, this guy's a weirdo."

_Another compliment,_ thought May. _This guy's definitely hit the teenage years._

Blaze was singing _Another One Bites the Dust _like he was alone in his room with the speakers cranked up to maximum when his dad wasn't around.

Blaze's dad looked at him as if to say, _Are you serious?_

May was almost laughing. Her eyes shone. _He ROCKS! _screamed her conscience.

Max, Ash, Richie, Kenny and Drew were rolling on the ground with laughter. Even Brock couldn't help chuckling. All the girls except May sweatdropped. Paul put his face in his hands, as if to say, _We are so doomed._

He really did rock. He was singing exactly like Queen way back when. While he, Blaziken, Spiritomb and Toxicroak were playing, Empoleon, Leafeon and Wartortle were using Giga Impact, Iron Tail, and Skull Bash, respectively, on the man.

By the time Blaze had finished _Another One Bites The Dust, _the man was completely beaten up. The man began yelling, "XATU! XATU! XATU!"

Blaze and May both sweatdropped. He was yelling just like a Xatu.

"He's gone nuts," muttered May.

Suddenly, four more Cadillacs pulled up. Five men jumped out of each one, bringing the bad guy total to 21. They each had six Pokémon with them, which meant that there were 126 evil Pokémon versus 65 good Pokémon. **(From now on, you do the math. I'm wiped out.)**

The PokéBalls of the bad guys were opened. The Pokémon were all Poochyena, Mightyena, Houndour, and Houndoom.

Blaze turned to Blaziken. "Didn't you say something about perfecting your Blast Burn, Blaziken?"

"Blaziken ken ken Blaze, (It's better than ever, Blaze,)" came the reply.

"Wanna try it out?"

"Blaziken Blaziken! (You read my mind, Blaze, buddy!)" Blaziken began to prepare itself. "Blaziken Blaze, Blaziken ken Blaze Blaziken Blaze ken? Ken ken ken Blaze Blaze, ken Blaziken Blaziken Blaze Blaziken. (While I'm at it, how about we do that song one more time? I really like it, and it fits right into the situation.)"

"Wow, what a mouthful. And, yes, let's." He turned to Toxicroak and Spiritomb. "One more time, girls. Let's take it from the top!" **(Yes, Blaze's Spiritomb is a girl. I'm a weirdo, but I think that's the way it should be.)**

"Spiiiirriiiiiitoooomb! (Ayyye ayyyye, siiiiiiiir!)"

"Toxi toxicroak… (Five, four, three, two, one…)"

Everybody released their Mentos and Coke traps. Bubbly concoctions flew every which way. Soon after, all Pokémon were released for an all-out brawl.

Every time Blaze said, "Another one bites the dust," about four bad Pokémon and two good Pokémon would drop. Eventually, only Blaze's Blaziken, Toxicroak, and Spiritomb were left, along with an evil Mightyena and an evil Houndoom.

They finally stopped playing, and now Blaze was totally into it. "Blaziken, use Flare Blitz! Toxicroak, Brick Break! Spiritomb, Giga Impact!"

When the chain of attacks were finished, Mightyena, Houndoom, and Blaziken were down. Blaze had won by two Pokémon.

Toxicroak, Spiritomb, and Blaze ran to Blaziken. Well, technically, Spiritomb floated, but you get the idea.

"Spiiiiiiiirrriiiiiiiitoooooooooomb! (Blaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiiikeeeeeeeeeeen!)" yelled Spiritomb.

Toxicroak began shaking Blaziken. "Toxi, Toxicroak! Croak croak! (Come on, Blaziken! Wake up!)"

Blaziken sat up, dazed. "Blaze?" it asked. **(Do you really need a translation for that?)**

Blaze smiled. "You alright?"

Blaziken weakly nodded. Blaze began rubbing Blaziken's forehead.

"That was some Flare Blitz, man," said Blaze.

Blaziken laughed. "Blaziken ken ken Blaziken, Blaze. (I'll take that as a compliment, Blaze.)"

"Turn around, Blaze!" yelled May.

Blaziken's eyes got very wide. It weakly raised a shaky arm and pointed to a figure behind Blaze. "Bllllaaaaziken, Blaze! (Behiiiiinnnnndd yooooou, Blaze!)" said Blaziken.

Blaze felt cold metal against his head. He turned to see his father (the first one to show up) holding a semiautomatic on Blaze's skull.

"Nice try, kiddo, but to no avail," said the man.

Blaze clapped his hands together in mock happiness. "Oh, goodie! The climax! I've always wanted to be in a life/death situation!"

_Who is this guy? _thought Drew. _Harley?_

May tried to scream, but nothing came out. Her Blaziken woke up and promptly crouched behind her.

"Blaziken, (Blaziken,)" whispered May's Blaziken. She was obviously worried about Blaze's Blaziken.

Blaze continued to sound like the school weirdo, Harley. "Gee, Dad, I never thought that my own father would be the one to blow my brains out! Isn't that special!"

Blaze's father sweatdropped.

"And you know the weirdest thing, Dad?" said Blaze. "I'm thirsty!"

The rest of the Thirteen caught on.

May and her Blaziken punched the air in pre-victory.

Blaze pulled out a Coke zero. He opened it. He raised it. "To stupid idiots like us!" he cheered. He drained the bottle in ten seconds.

Richie and Drew whistled. They knew what was coming next.

Blaze bowed his head. The ground began to shake.

By now, all of the good Pokémon had woken up and gone to their respective trainers. Everyone watched Blaze.

Blaze's Pokémon began to back away. Blaziken, Wartortle and Leafeon ran to May's Blaziken, Wartortle and Glaceon; Toxicroak ran to Brock and his Croagunk; Spiritomb floated to Max; and Empoleon dove toward Kenny and his Prinplup.

He raised his head, looked at the sky, and roared. A cumulonimbus cloud appeared above their heads. (Yes, cumulonimbus. In other words, a thunderhead. A BIG one.) It stretched as far as the eye could see. Thunder rippled through the air. Blaze took a deep breath, and let it all out.

Black beams shot from his hands. He was surrounded by a flaming black aura. A black lightning bolt was fired from the monster of water vapor hundreds of feet above them. It struck Blaze headfirst. A shadowy shock wave pulsed through the ground that made nearby Richter scales read 5.9. Blaze's father was thrown backwards. Thousands of feet above them, a plane experienced turbulence.

The school began to shake. Windows shattered. The staff were sent running.

A tornado began to form. Books that flew out of the broken windows were sucked into the vortex.

Blaze began to roar. The sound waves interrupted radar machines in planes above them. He sent a black inferno of fire at the tornado. The twister sucked it up. Another black lightning bolt was fired from the cloud, straight through the swirling storm. The tornado was now headed straight for them, crackling with black electricity and filling the air with heat from the black flames. The entire cloud, in turn, was filled with flame.

All the trees in sight were either bending over, uprooted, broken, and/or burning.

The five Cadillacs slowly began moving backwards. A column of fire suddenly shot down from the sky and enveloped the cars. The resulting explosion caught a nearby building on fire. Nearby traffic swerved to avoid the flames and debris. Several crashed into each other, which in turn, exploded, which caught more buildings and cars on fire, and you get the point.

May wasn't sure if she was already dead and in heck, or if she was experiencing the Apocalypse. _Either way, somebody's gonna get in serious trouble for all this, _she thought.

Rocks were flying everywhere. The ground was shaking and erupting. Torrential columns of water ripped up the roads. Fire created explosions. Giant trees crashed into buildings. Lightning struck everything. Flying steel scraps were knocking people out. In short, it was chaos.

Blaze roared one last time. People hundreds of miles away heard it.

And…

…everything stopped.

The actual chaos only lasted about half an hour, but it had created an everlasting heckhole.

Somehow, the Thirteen and all their Pokémon escaped harm.

As if in slow motion, Blaze's eyes closed. He fell backwards, and hit the pavement.

_THUD._

**LATER…**

Blaze heard voices. He wasn't sure if he was dead or not, but people were yelling like he was. Wait… since when did someone give a crap for him? Nobody ever cared about him except the Thirteen and their Pokémon, along with his Pokémon, of course. Even some of them didn't really seem to care. The one who seemed to care was probably somewhere else.

**MEANWHILE…**

Part of his face was covered in blood. His breathing was ragged. A crushed Coke zero bottle was next to him. Blood was starting to find its way out of his mouth.

May was practically sobbing over him. She buried her face in his chest. It was cold as a piece of ice, but his scents still somehow seemed to comfort her.

The two Blaziken were holding each other, as were the two Wartortle, and Leafeon and Glaceon. They all watched the sad girl and the dead boy. Or so they thought.

He raised his head. He spat, leaving red blood on the road. He saw her crying over him. He began gently combing his fingers through her shiny brown hair.

She felt something in her hair, and involuntarily reached up to touch it. She touched someone's hand. It gently grasped her quivering one. She looked to find the source of comfort, and saw his face.

He saw her face. He thought she was angry at him for touching her hair, and he pulled his hand away. He looked down sadly.

She tilted her head sideways curiously. Her hand found his, and gently caressed it with her fingers.

He looked back up to see her eyes shining._ Great, now what'd I do? I'm always getting everybody mad._

Instead of backhanding him like he thought she would, she wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her head on his chest.

Dawn and Misty were watching the scene unfold with sparkling eyes.

Max and Drew made gagging noises.

"Way to ruin the moment!" said Dawn. "You're so immature!"

"No, not that," gasped Drew. He pointed at Zoey and Kenny. "THAT!"

They were doing exactly what Misty and Dawn wanted Blaze and May to do.

Melody put a hand on Max's shoulder.

Drew was horrified. "Not you too!"

He ran to Blaze. "Blaze, look!"

Blaze and May looked. Kenny and Zoey, and Max and Melody, seemed to have come straight from English.

Blaze and May sweatdropped.

"They look like they're half-starved," muttered Blaze.

"And they just found a tasty feast right in front of their faces," muttered May.

Soon enough, Dawn and Paul and Misty and Ash joined the game.

Richie covered his mouth and dragged Brock over to Blaze, Drew and May. He returned his Pokémon, as did Brock and Drew.

"Disgusting," gasped Richie.

"There's a sort of beauty in it, isn't there?" said Brock.

Nurse Joy and Brock danced their way into Drew, Blaze and May's heads. They all shook the bad pictures away and ran, leaving Brock and the couples behind.

May's hand somehow found Blaze's while they were running, and she blushed. To her surprise, he grabbed it back. When she looked at him, he merely winked.

To their amazement, it looked as though almost nothing had touched the school, aside from the broken glass.

"Rats," they all muttered. Richie and Drew saw May's fingers entwined with Blaze's, and immediately began snickering. May blushed and pulled away. Blaze laughed.

They walked to the soda machine. Blaze looked in his wallet. "I've got four ones," he said. "Who's up for a toast?"

Soon, Drew had an orange Fanta, Richie had an A&W root beer, May had her Sierra Mist Free, and Blaze had a Sprite zero.

"Cheers!" they all said, and clinked their plastic bottles together and drank.

All because of a popular gang.


	5. Running and Hurling

**Hey, folks. I know that the Ash breaks up with Misty and then he and May become an item thing is really overdone, but this one has a bit of a twist. Besides, I've never tried something like this, and I wanted to give it a go. Cheers!**

He ran.

He was the fastest around. So, nobody even tried to catch him.

He kept running. That's why he had a good physique. He was always running.

A running fool.

He kept running.

He was almost eighteen. May and Dawn were seventeen, Max was sixteen, and Brock was eighteen. They were all seniors, except for Max, who was a junior. (I know Max is older than usual, and Blaze and Brock are really young, so just bear with me.)

He kept running.

He usually did this on Saturdays like these.

He kept running.

There wasn't really any reason why, but he kept running.

_Just running to stay in shape, _he thought.

Blaze kept running, listening to his blue IPod Nano. 4 gig. He thought it was a beauty. He got it for free with a student discount on his notebook. Right now he was listening to _Electric Avenue_. Yes, he was an 80's fanatic. Sometimes, when he was REALLY bored, he would even watch the Smurfs on TV. I mean REALLY bored. He agreed it was creepy, but, hey, what else would YOU do on a hot Saturday with nothing to do?

_Good thing only May knows, _he thought. _And she doesn't tell other people other stuff like that._

May was best friends with him. Except if you counted Dawn. May and Dawn chatted and texted so much that sometimes Blaze, Max and Brock would all have all their homework done, gotten a good round of _Guitar Hero III _in, followed up by some _Super Smash Bros. Brawl _(Blaze never got why the Pokémon Trainer character in that game looked so much like Ash), and be snoring or flipping through channels by the time they had finished. Yep, the five were inseparable. (Max was always there because he was May's little brother, of course, but you get the idea.) But, for some reason, May always seemed to confide in Blaze more than everybody else.

_Electric Avenue _finished, and_ Sunglasses At Night _switched on. Blaze flipped through some more songs until he got to a favorite of his, _The Stroke._

_Geez, I've got 80's mania disease, _he thought. _I'll get the Vicodin to kick in when I get back._

He suddenly found himself at the Maple residence. _How do I do that? _he mentally asked himself. _Oh well. I was gonna come here anyway._

May heard a knock at the door. She finished tying her bandanna and went to answer.

Of course, Blaze was standing there, sweating, his IPod ear buds in his ears. He grinned.

May laughed. "With you working out that much, it's amazing you don't have a girlfriend yet, Blaze."

"Hey, nobody's interested. I can't help it. Actually, I don't mind being single." He smirked. "Apparently, your story is completely and utterly different."

"She got six over-the-phone proposals last night," muttered Max from behind May. "The ringing stuck in my ears, and I couldn't go to sleep."

"Shut your face," snapped May.

"Geez, wonder who got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," said Blaze.

"I heard that," sang May.

"You were supposed to, genius," Blaze sang back.

She pulled one of his ear buds away. "_The Stroke?_" she asked, listening to it.

Blaze snatched it back. "What I listen to is none of your business, Miss Maple," he teased.

"So are you comin' in 'r what?" yawned Max. "I'm getting cold."

"Sorry." Blaze shut the door.

May began jumping up and down. "Guess what! Guess what!"

"Why should I?" asked Blaze. He turned his IPod off.

"Because I want you to!"

Blaze arched an eyebrow and put his hands in his pockets. "Since when did I guess something just because you wanted me to?"

She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "That is an excellent question…"

"Just tell me," Blaze muttered.

They walked into the living room and sat down on the two couches. **(Hey, they're just friends. They're not going to sit together on the couch, you weirdos.)**

May was practically jumping on the cushion. "I was just about to go out and find you!"

Blaze sweatdropped. "That's your big news?"

"No. The big news is…" She deeply inhaled, as if to accent the importance of whatever she was about to say. "…Misty and Ash aren't dating anymore!"

Blaze folded his arms. "So?"

"I mean, they officially broke up."

"Do I look like I care?"

May was getting a bit frustrated by now. "No! But you should. This is my big opportunity!"

Blaze snorted. "Opportunity? You mean you actually have a crush on Ash?"

She blushed. "I never told you?"

He sweatdropped again. "By the way I just reacted, I'd say not."

Suddenly, knocking was heard from on the porch.

"Don't trouble yourself, I'll get it," Blaze and Max said together. They opened the door to find nobody else but Dawn.

She arched an eyebrow. "What are you doing here, Blaze?" she asked, a smirk slowly snaking its way onto her face.

Blaze wasn't amused. "I should be the one asking that question." He stepped out of the way, letting her in. He shut the door. "May and I were just talking in the living room. You can join us if you want to." He smirked. "'A course, you probably already know what she was gonna tell me with you two texting so much."

"Hey! I resent that!" said May loudly.

"Then don't text so much, weirdo." He sat back down. Dawn sat down next to May.

Blaze cleared his throat. "Next up on Gossip Central, we have May Maple, who secretly claims that she has a crush on-Hey!"

He was cut short by a pillow to the head, courtesy of May.

Dawn's eyes were sparkling. "You mean he only just found out?"

Blaze raised his hands. "Hey, that was May's fault, not mine." He cleared his throat and dodged another pillow. "Apparently, her crush has just broken up with his now ex-girlfriend, and is now free for the taking. Our sources tell us that this crush of May's is named Ash Ketchum. So, if you see Ash and immediately fall for him like this loser…" He dodged another pillow. "…please stay away and remember that May here deserves a chance at happiness. In other news, Dawn Berlitz…" He was attacked.

He kicked May and Dawn away. "What? I'm just trying to shake things up."

May turned to Dawn. "Well, I was gonna tell you that Ash and Misty broke up, but Gossip Central announcer over here just took that pleasure from me."

Dawn laughed. "Doesn't matter. We've just gotta get you two together."

Blaze sighed. "If it means you'll stop throwing pillows at me, I'll help." He put his face in his hands. "I'm gonna regret this later…" he muttered.

"Hey! I resent that!" said May again.

"Whatever." He turned to Dawn. "So what's your big plan, genius?" He dodged another pillow.

"Okay, let's brainstorm…" said Dawn.

Max sighed from the kitchen. "This'll be entertaining."

**ON MONDAY**

They were reviewing the plan at lunch. They had let Brock and Drew (Drew is the same age as May and Dawn) in on the plan, and now everybody had a part. Ash (who is the same age as Blaze) was good friends with Blaze, Drew and Brock, so Dawn thought this plan was foolproof. And indeed, no matter how much Blaze explored the plan, the only problem he could find was that if Ash didn't play along.

"So, the plan is…" Max was still confused.

"At the end of the year dance on Friday next week, Blaze and Drew and a few others are gonna sing and play. They're gonna get to a song that Ash really likes. May's going to casually talk to him. Either Ash is gonna ask her to dance, or she's gonna ask him. And then they'll dance and be happy and et cetera," said Dawn.

"So, where do Brock and I come in?" he asked.

"Brock is going to get Ash's attention by trying to hit on pretty much every girl in the place, which he would probably do anyway, and then you'll drag him away. In their place will be May. She'll pretend to be sweatdropping at them, which she would probably be doing anyway, and so would Ash, and then they'd see each other, and then they'll talk, and et cetera," said Blaze.

"I like it," said Drew confidently. "May and Ash'll be together in no time."

Dawn blushed. _He gave me a compliment!_

May rolled her eyes. Only she and Blaze knew that Dawn liked Drew.

"I don't know," said Blaze. "Ash may not be interested. You never know."

"But it's so romantic!" protested Dawn.

"Yeah, and cheesy," said Blaze and Max together.

"What is it, Blaze?" May said in a taunting voice. "Afraid to sing?"

Blaze folded his arms. "I don't have a problem with that. I sing all the time. Not to mention play the guitar and the keyboard. I'm just not sure if it'll work."

"I say we do it," said May.

Blaze and Max raised their hands in surrender. "All right," they said together.

"Just remember," said Blaze, "if this flops, it won't be my fault."

"Operation Advanceshipping is go!" Dawn slapped her gavel on the table, startling a few passersby. "Dismissed," she said.

"But I haven't finished my chicken noodle soup yet!" cried May.

Drew, Blaze and Max all fell anime-style. Brock sighed.

**THE NIGHT OF THE END-OF-THE-YEAR DANCE**

Blaze walked in. He saw May and Dawn by the refreshments, and went to greet them.

"Hey," he said.

May and Dawn turned to look at him and gasped.

He was wearing a… tuxedo?

His hair was neatly combed, parted, and gelled to the side. His glasses were polished and shiny. He had a pitch black rose in his lapel on his black suit coat (Drew can work wonders). The girls could see their reflections in his black dress shoes. Black slacks, a blood red tie, a black flame necklace, and a silver watch completed this manly work of art. The red streaks that were always in his dark brown hair now had silver streaks for temporary company. (Which means that he put silver streaks in his hair.)

"Wow," was all May could say.

"Who are you and what have you done with Firedusk Darkblitz, A. K. A. Blaze?" asked Dawn.

"I am the one you speak of, and I have dressed him up," came the reply.

"This must be really important to you to make you look half normal," said Dawn.

May elbowed Dawn in the ribs. "Be nice!" she scolded.

Dawn was smirking. "Here to impress someone, Blaze? Someone here you loooove?"

"No." The answer was cold, it had no emotion. "I'm only here to help."

Her smirk immediately dissipated. "Right…"

Drew showed up. "Come on, we gotta get ready!"

"Right…" Blaze followed him backstage.

Dawn turned to May. "It's amazing that he doesn't have a girlfriend yet," she commented.

"I always tell him that, and he never really seems to care," said May.

Ten minutes later, Drew stepped up to the mike.

"Hello, Emerald High!" he said. "Today, you'll have the pleasure of listening to us play tonight. This is a farewell dance for some of us, so we decided to say bye with a bang!"

Everyone cheered.

"Now, let's kick it off! First off, we'll have my good man Blaze start the party with a song by Dead or Alive. We believe you know it as _You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)._ Take it away, Blaze!"

Blaze ran onstage. "Thanks, Drew! Alright, let's go, everybody!"

May was alarmed. She turned to Dawn nervously.

"This is what Ash and I are going to dance to?" said a quivering May.

"Thankfully, no," said Dawn. "But that would've been funny."

"Hey! I resent that!" said May.

The music began playing. Blaze began singing.

**Get I**

**I get to know your name**

It was very good. May began smiling.

"He's awesome," commented Dawn.

May merely nodded. "And he's gonna be singing the song that Ash and I dance to," she said.

Before long, the song was done, along with a few more, and Blaze, Drew and the rest of the performers took a five-minute breather. **(And if you're wondering what everybody's dancing to when the performers aren't playing, just use your imagination.)**

Blaze and Drew made toward Dawn and May.

When they got there, they were greeted by shining eyes and clasped hands.

"Wow, you were great!" said Dawn excitedly.

"Um, thanks," said Blaze uncertainly.

"Yeah, thanks," said Drew.

Dawn blushed and turned away, sipping her punch.

Drew looked at Blaze, who simply shrugged.

"Hey, you!"

Drew and Blaze turned around to see Ash running toward them.

Blaze arched an eyebrow. "What?"

"Blaze, I need to talk to you," he said, not noticing May blushing furiously. Drew elbowed her in the side. "In private."

"Well, you'd better hurry. I've only got three minutes."

Ash pulled him away. "Walk with me," he said.

"Since you're pulling me wherever you're going, I don't really think I have a choice," commented Blaze.

They stopped. Blaze found himself facing a corner.

"Blaze, I have a personal question to ask you," said Ash.

Blaze looked amused. "Since when did my business become yours?"

"It's not about you."

"Who, then?"

"May Maple."

Blaze froze. _Crap. Now what?_

"What makes you think that I know what you want to know?" Blaze asked uncertainly.

"You hang out with her a lot. You're her best friend."

"No I'm not. Dawn Berlitz is."

"Best _male _friend."

"So you're saying that you wanna talk to me because you're too nervous to talk to Dawn?"

"You're confusing me!" cried Ash.

"Likewise," said Blaze. "So, you're saying that you can't talk to the opposite sex, so you're talking to me instead? What am I, an it?"

"Gack!"

"My words exactly." Blaze sighed. "What do you want to know?"

"Who does May like?"

Blaze froze for the second time in one minute. _DOUBLE crap. Now what?_

"I'm sorry. The subject you speak of is classified information," said Blaze in a perfect British accent.

"English, Doc," said Ash crossly.

_He's quoting Back to the Future II? _"Who do you think I am, a professor?"

"No! I wanna know what you just said!"

"I'm sorry. The subject you speak of is classified information."

"So I can understand it!"

"Translation: That's for me to know and for you to find out." Blaze sighed. "Hopefully," he said quietly, so Ash could barely hear, "if everything goes to plan, you'll find out by the end of the dance."

"Plan? What plan?"

"Let's hope you find out," said Blaze simply. "Sayonara. I've got a song to play."

He left Ash with more questions than answers.

Blaze ran to Dawn. "The song for the go-go is gonna be the last one."

She was perplexed. "English, Doc."

_What is it today with quoting Back to the Future II? _"May's song is gonna be the last one we play!"

"Geez, sor-ry."

"Sorry, Dawn. It's just that you're the second one to quote Back to the Future II in a minute. I gotta go. Smell ya later!" He and Drew ran onstage.

"He is so full of it," muttered Dawn.

"That's why he's my second best friend," said May.

After what seemed like an eternity and a day to the two girls, all the songs except one were over.

Drew and Blaze stepped up to the mike.

"Okay, we're almost through here," said Blaze, "but before we go, we've got a request for one last song."

"From a very special friend of ours," added Drew, "who wants to give a certain guy that certain hint."

"We hope he takes the hint, for our friend's sake," said Blaze. "Drew, do you want to sing and play guitar, or play the piano?"

"I'll take the piano," replied Drew. He walked over to the piano, sat down, and set up some sheets of music. **(I hope you don't consider that cheating…)**

"Okay," said Blaze, positioning himself in front of the mike and pulling his guitar over his neck and onto his shoulder. "This song is called _Right Here Waiting_, by Richard Marx. We hope you enjoy it! Oh, and by the way, I would slow dance to this one. It's not really possible to dance to it any other way."

Somebody dimmed the lights, except for a few colored ones. Someone else turned on some background music (just for accompaniment).

Drew began playing.

Dawn felt like she had died and gone to heaven. _Dang, that is beautiful._

May was frozen. She couldn't move.

Dawn noticed her best friend immobilized, and elbowed her in the side.

"Look," she said, gesturing in a direction.

Brock was practically drooling over a group of girls.

"You heard the man," Brock was saying. "Let's slow dance!"

Max began pulling him away by the ear. "There's nothing worse than a slow and painful death. Let's spare them that pleasure and head to the nearest psychologist."

May sweatdropped. _We tried the psychologist thing a long time ago, _she thought. _He just started drooling over her too. Big mistake._

On the other side of the tugging Max and flailing Brock was a sweatdropping Ash.

_Old habits die hard, _he said to himself. _Well, at least it's good to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same._

He and May looked up at the same time.

_Wow, _they thought in unison. **(I can't think of something for them to wear. Once again, please use your imagination.)**

Ash swallowed hard and approached May.

_HOLY CRAP! _thought Dawn. _He's gonna ask her! Omigosh!_

A smile crept its way onto May's face.

Ash stopped in front of May and held out his hand.

"May, may I have this dance?" **(Yeesh, the beginning of that sentence really throws me off.)**

Dawn was practically jumping up and down.

"Of course," said May.

Blaze noticed them dancing (along with Dawn and her jumping fit) and smiled. He began to sing.

**Oceans apart**

**Day after day**

**And I slowly go insane**

**I hear your voice**

**On the line**

**But it doesn't stop the pain**

**If I see you next to never**

**How can we say forever**

**Wherever you go**

**Whatever you do**

**I will be right here waiting for you**

**Whatever it takes**

**Or how my heart breaks**

**I will be right here waiting for you**

"You're a really good dancer, May," said Ash.

"Thanks, Ash." May suddenly got an idea. "Ash, do you know how to close dance?"

"Care for a demonstration?" Ash gently pulled her close, and they continued dancing.

Dawn had to restrain herself from wolf-whistling.

Blaze was grinning from ear to ear. He kept singing.

**I took for granted**

**All the times**

**That I thought would last somehow**

**I hear the laughter**

**I taste the tears**

**But I can't get near you now**

**Oh, can't you see it, baby**

**You've got me going crazy**

**Wherever you go**

**Whatever you do**

**I will be right here waiting for you**

**Whatever it takes**

**Or how my heart breaks**

**I will be right here waiting for you**

**I wonder how we can survive**

**This romance**

"I like this song," commented May as they slowly moved to the song.

"So do I," said Ash. "It's almost as beautiful as you are."

_Okay, that was cheesy, _thought Max and Blaze together. _REAL cheesy._

But, May didn't seem to care.

**But in the end if I'm with you**

**I'll take the chance**

"You're really good at this," said May. "Have you done this a lot?"

"Not really. Not since I danced with Misty." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Just between you and me, you're way better at dancing than she is."

"Thanks, Ash."

Blaze kept slowly strumming his guitar.

**Oh, can't you see it, baby**

**You've got me going crazy**

**Wherever you go**

**Whatever you do**

**I will be right here waiting for you**

**Whatever it takes**

**Or how my heart breaks**

**I will be right here waiting for you**

"Blaze is fantastic," murmured Ash.

"Yeah, he is." She smiled. "He and Drew agreed to sing and play for me."

"Really?"

"Yep. It was all part of a plan to give that guy the hint. And this song's supposed to be the climax."

"You mean you're the one who's trying to give someone the hint?"

"Yep."

"Who are you talking about?"

May kissed him on the cheek. "You, hello!"

Dawn, Max, Blaze and Brock almost died.

_She kissed him! HOLY CRAP! _thought Dawn.

_She kissed him! _thought Max. _Disgusting! _He made a gagging noise and almost retched.

_She kissed him!_ thought Brock. _How does Ash do it?_

_She kissed him! _thought Blaze. _Rock on, girl! You're awesome!_

_I kissed him! _thought May. _I did it! YES!_

_She kissed me! _thought Ash. _Wow! She likes me!_

_She kissed him! _Wait a sec… Who's thinking now?

"You mean, you're the one who's been trying to give me the hint?"

"Yep. And apparently, it worked like a charm."

"But I like you too!"

"Really?"

"Why do you think I asked you to dance?"

"Well, when you put it that way – "

Ash caught her by surprise. Full force. He wanted to, so he did.

May was caught by surprise. She gave it back full force. She wanted to, so she did.

If there was ever such a thing as a mental heart attack, that's probably what Dawn had.

_They're kissing! _thought Dawn. _Gack! May, show me your ways!_

_They're kissing! _thought Max. _Gross! Ugh! _He gagged again and held his stomach.

_They're kissing! _thought Brock. _Ash, please tell me you're going to write a book!_

_They're kissing? _thought Blaze. _This is way too cheesy for my liking. Aw, who cares?_

_We're kissing! _thought May. _Operation Advanceshipping was a big success!_

_We're kissing! _thought Ash. _I wonder what everyone else is thinking?_

_Trust me, it'd probably be better if you didn't know, _said a voice in his head.

**Waiting for you**

The song ended. Blaze and Drew wiped the sweat from their foreheads.

Everybody went wild. Blaze and Drew sweatdropped.

Drew noticed Ash and May, and turned to Blaze.

"Details," he said. "What happened?"

"Let's discuss this later," said Blaze quickly. "After Max is done hurling."

May and Ash broke apart.

"How cheesy does this get?" murmured May.

"'S cheesy as you want," said Ash.

"Apparently," said Blaze loudly, "the song worked."

Everybody cheered for one more song. And I think we all know what song it is.

"Johnny B. Goode!" yelled the crowd.

Blaze and Drew sweatdropped and turned to each other.

Okay, maybe not.

"Must be the graduation sickness," Drew muttered.

"You read my mind, man," said Blaze.

**0130 HOURS THE NEXT MORNING**

May stumbled through the front door of her house. **(Well, she didn't exactly go through the front DOOR, seeing as that would be pretty hard to do; she actually went through the DOORWAY, uh… you get the idea.)**

She held her head. "Migraine," she muttered to herself. She climbed up the stairs.

"You're late," chimed Max and Blaze from the TV room.

She slowly walked in and dropped on a red beanbag.

Max's eyes were glued to Back to the Future II. Blaze turned to May.

"What have you been doing? The dance ended at midnight," said Blaze.

"Probably been with Ash," Max mumbled.

"We found someone out next to the toilet at about 12:15. Guy was completely conked out," muttered May.

Blaze covered his huge grin with one hand. "Really?!"

"Yeah," she said. "Apparently, some people brought their own beverages from home." She chuckled. "Nobody could find out where he lived. By the time he was gone, it was 12:45. So, Dawn, Ash and I helped clean up. It was 1:15 by the time we were done."

Blaze deeply exhaled. "Good. I thought you were at Ash's house or something."

May laughed. "Nope. You thought wrong." She frowned. "What would I be doing at his house?"

"Oh, nothing," said Blaze and Max together.

"Just one question," said Blaze. "Why was all of this so cheesy?"

"Dunno," said May quietly. "Suspense?"

"Probably." Blaze, Max and May watched the movie until it was over.

**0230 HOURS**

"Max?" said May.

"Yeah?"

"Weren't you one of those people who hurled?"

"Yeah, but not from alcohol. I don't drink, as you very well know."

May frowned. "None of us do! We're not stupid!" She paused. "Then why did you upchuck?"

Blaze gagged.

"From excessive cheesiness," said Max simply.

**Wow. Done! It only took a couple of days, too. This sucker clocked in at 4187 words at the end, including this bold print. I know, I know, I should be updating my main fic, but this was too good to pass up. Cheers! Review!**


	6. Depression

"Whoa, look at Platter, guys," snickered Red.

"Yeah, what a complete loser," added Diamond.

I looked up. "What do you want, Red?"

Red was staring down at me, and behind him were Gold, Ruby and Diamond.

"What do I want? I want you to get your sorry butt out of here."

I looked away. "I was here first, Red. You can't boss me around."

Gold and Ruby began to back away. They were part of Red's gang, but only so they wouldn't get beaten to a pulp.

"Oh yes he can," Diamond sneered. "You're pathetic, Platter. Anybody can boss YOU around."

"Name's Platinum, hardhead," I said coldly. **(Get it? Diamonds are hard, so, hardhead, uh, yeah, I'm moving on now.)**

"Oooh, Shiny's got a name now, eh?" sneered Red. "Well, soon your name's gonna be dirt!"

"Yeah, four against one seems about fair," I muttered. "Does it really take that many of you idiots to bloody me up? No wonder they say cheaters never win."

Diamond kicked. I dodged and punched him in the face. I felt his nose break; blood began pouring onto my knuckles. He staggered away.

I cracked my knuckles, smearing blood all over my hands. Even when school's out, these creeps don't leave me alone.

Gold caught Diamond. "Come on, man, let's get you outta here."

Diamond punched Gold away. "I'm fine. I've just gotta beat that piece of crap to a pulp."

Ruby was scared. "Why are we doing this, Red?"

Red scowled. "Because this bugger wugger is such a bunch of bull-"

I jumped and kicked Red in the chest. I heard the wind rush out of his lungs. He fell backwards.

Diamond was furious. "Oh, why, you little-"

"You know," I said thoughtfully, "three against one still seems a bit top-heavy, don't you think? Why don't we even the numbers?"

I immediately kicked Diamond in his… happy place.

He froze and fell over backwards, clutching his groin. (I thought it was extremely disturbing.)

Ruby and Gold stared in disbelief.

I walked up to Red. "This is for trying to beat the crap out of me." I kicked him in the gut. He didn't say anything.

"This is for pressuring Ruby and Gold into your gang." I kicked him in his… happy place.

"And this is because I felt like it." I kicked him in the face.

He merely doubled up and curled into a ball, tears streaming down his face.

I stared coldly, emotionlessly, at Diamond. "You want a turn, hardhead?"

He weakly stood up. Fire burned in his eyes. He was probably just trying to protect his ego.

"You better run, squirrel," I said coldly.

Needless to say, he was gone.

Ruby was staring at Red. "Platinum wasted him," he murmured.

Gold turned to me. "It's about time someone popped his bubble."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I muttered.

"Hey!" someone shouted.

_Crap_.

I turned around. It was Emerald, my best friend. He was being tailed by Yellow and Crystal.

"What is this?" I asked.

"That, my friend, is – What the heck happened to him?" Emerald had just noticed Red.

"Got in a fight," I muttered.

"With who?"

"I've got blood all over my hands and feet, genius! Who do you think?"

Yellow and Crystal caught up.

"What happened here?" asked Yellow. She glared at Gold, who ducked behind Ruby. "Did Gold and Ruby beat Red up or something?"

"No, I did," I said. Well, THAT went over like a ton of freaking bricks.

Crystal was gaping at me. "Why?"

"Red, Diamond, Ruby and Gold were all ganging up on me. Only natural," I said quietly. And, yes, it would kill me to stop using short responses.

Gold and Ruby got seriously ticked.

"We had our own safety in mind!" yelled Ruby. "They would've killed us!"

"Apparently, you've forgotten what I could do to your safety," I said coldly. "You better run, squirrels."

Gold and Ruby were gone in a flash.

Needless to say, I'm Platinum. I'm fifteen. Loser. Outcast. Dirt. However, I'm just over six feet tall. Not bad for a fifteen year old. I'm also extremely light. Anyway, if you ever want to find me, I'll be sitting on the old swing in the abandoned park on the edge of town at midnight. Because that's just how I roll.

I turned to Emerald, Yellow and Crystal. "So, what'd you want?"

Crystal loomed over me like a big dark shadow. If, you know, big dark shadows always loom over me.

"We need to talk," she said shortly. "In private. Come on." She grabbed my arm and began dragging me away. I gave Emerald and Yellow a look that clearly stated, "See you on the other side." They merely shrugged.

We stopped at the old abandoned park. She let go, and I fell face first into the gravel. Bingo! That hurt. I felt a trickle of warm blood run down my face.

"Out with it," she said. "What did you do to Sapphire?"

I blinked. "Excuse me?" Except for Pearl and Blue, Sapphire was the most popular person around. We'd never even shared a simple chat. Fan boys always surrounded her. Not like I care. What'd I do to someone I'd never actually talked to?

"You're excused, psycho. What'd you do to her?"

Okay, I hope you're confused too, because I have no idea what's going on. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"Okay, here's the situation: Sapphire hasn't been herself lately."

I raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying that Sapphire's been acting funny, so it's automatically my fault? That civics class must be REAL easy."

She kicked me in the knee. I gasped. "Just so you know," I said, "I might need that someday."

"Shut up, Platinum! Jeez, let me finish! So, Sapphire's been acting weird. And by that, I mean that she's become, like, a loner or something."

I folded my arms. "So, she's depressed, so it's automatically my fault? Look, just because she starts acting all sad and lonely doesn't mean that I had anything to do with it. I don't see where you're going with this, Crystal."

"I mean, she's always here, at this old dump of an abandoned playground, in the middle of the night, on THAT swing!" She pointed to the swing that I had sat on almost every night for the past eleven years.

"So you're saying that she's acting exactly like me?"

"Yes! So what'd you do?"

I screeched in frustration. "Nothing!" I walked away.

**2345 HOURS THAT NIGHT**

Sapphire was sitting on the old swing. She didn't know why she did this, but somehow it felt comforting. Nobody ever came here.

She looked up. She saw the stars winking back at her face.

She wrapped her jacket around herself tightly. It was a windy summer night. It was warm, yet the wind sent chills into her bone marrow. It was July 2nd.

The tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickled. She whirled and fell off the swing. She looked up at my face.

"Please don't do that," she said quietly. "It's too freaky."

"Don't do what?" I asked calmly. "Breathing?"

"You know what," she said.

"I'll tell you what's freaky," I said, sitting on the old swing. "You sitting out here by yourself. You're almost unrecognizable without fan boys hanging around."

She frowned. "You stole my swing, you jerk!"

I looked at the stars. The wind whistled through my hair. It almost sounded like Lugia's song.

"No," I said quietly. "You stole mine."

She twisted her mouth in confusion. "Huh?"

I still gazed at the stars. "I've sat in this swing every night for the past eleven years, and then you come along and steal my routine."

She shivered. "You have a _Twilight Zone_-y voice, you know that? Yeesh, you're one creepy character."

I chuckled and looked at her face. Her sapphire orbs sparkled in the moonlight. Then I noticed – her skin was almost as white as a sheet.

I got out of the swing and crouched next to her. "So what's been bothering you, Sapphire? Nobody's ever come close to acting like me."

She sighed and looked away. "Popularity isn't all it's cracked up to be."

I put my face in my hands. "It took you this long to figure that out?"

"Well, no," she admitted. "I don't really like so much attention. I never get any alone time to myself. That's why I came here." She sighed. "I thought, you know, with school out and all, I'd be left alone, but obviously that didn't happen."

I made a noise that was somewhere between a snicker, a chuckle, and a snort. "I thought the same thing about Red's gang, but that didn't happen either." I laughed miserably. "Those sons of b- I mean, those psychos have been after me for, like, ten years. I never even got a break, because nobody gave a crap about me. They just said, Hey, Red's trying to whoop that kid, he must be a loser, and, bingo, that's my so-called life in a nutshell."

Sapphire looked at me. I mentally shivered. Jeezum, this girl's kinda creepy. Of course, I'm a psycho freak, so why should I care?

There was a sorrowful glint in her clear sapphire eyes. I saw that sad look whenever I looked in a mirror. That glint was always in my cold, black, steely eyes. I gave another mental shiver.

"I've never actually, really talked to you," she murmured. "I'm starting to feel sorry for you. Always getting beaten up like that."

"Actually, I gave them a piece of my mind earlier this afternoon," I said.

She giggled. "I saw Diamond earlier. He had blood all over his face, and he looked pretty mad."

I shrugged. "I'll probably get a beating later, but I don't really care."

_Poor guy, _thought Sapphire. _He's got a really sad look in his eyes. They look… empty. Cold. They look like black steel or something. Has he always been so depressed?_

"Do you have any friends?" Sapphire asked.

I looked down. "Emerald, but he's never around. He's always with Yellow and Crystal."

"So, that's basically a no?"

I shrugged. "No friends means no peer pressure. Nobody to boss me around. I can do what I want, and there's nobody to tell me not to. I don't mind having no friends. It gives me peace and quiet."

"But that means that you have nobody to protect you," Sapphire pointed out. "Nobody to have fun with, nobody to talk to, nobody to cry to when you're sad, nobody to laugh with, nobody to do anything with."

"I don't need protection. I've never had fun. Probably never will. I don't talk very often, and if I do, it's only to myself. I don't cry. I'm depressed, but I don't cry. I don't laugh, and I don't do anything with anybody else. And I suspect that's your problem, too." Jeez, that was probably the longest speech I ever made.

She nodded miserably. "You hit the nail on the head." She suddenly got a curious look in her eyes.

"What?" I asked.

She giggled. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

Indeed, I didn't have a shirt on. I had jeans, socks, shoes, all that stuff, but no shirt or jacket.

I merely shrugged. "It's July. It's warm. Besides, the wind feels good on my skin." I arched an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

There was a huge grin on her face. "You don't see shirtless guys in abandoned playgrounds that often."

"Of course I don't," I said. "But I'm sure you see it all the time. You are Miss Fan Boy Magnet, are you not?"

She laughed. "Nope." Suddenly, she noticed something, and she began to look worried. "Platinum?"

"Wow, you know my name," I said sarcastically. "What?"

"What's that?" She pointed to my left shoulder.

A mark ran down my neck, across a section of my collarbone, and ended where my shoulder met my upper arm.

I shrugged. "'S always been there. I bet it's my birthmark. It almost looks like an acid stain, huh?"

She nodded. She leaned in to get a good look at the black cord around my neck. There were sixteen charms on it; there was a silver flame, one of those peace signs from the '60s, a black Darkrai, a silver Giratina, a white Lugia, a gold Raikou, a blue Mewtwo, a green Celebi, a black Registeel, a black Mew, one that had both Latias and Latios, a green Rayquaza, a silver Jirachi, a black Deoxys, a pink Cresselia, a blue Phione and a red Manaphy.

She fingered the colored charms. "Cool necklace." She laughed. "You look like you're in the army."

"Uh, I'll take that as a compliment," I said uncertainly.

I checked my watch. 23:57.

"It's almost midnight," I said.

Sapphire looked at the stars again. "I don't care." She sighed. "I'm enjoying myself."

I noticed a newspaper blowing by in the wind. I got up, ran and grabbed it. I saw something on the front page that I'll never forget.

On it was a chalk outline where Red was lying, and three people I identified as Emerald, Yellow and Crystal.

The headline stated: **TEEN KILLED BY FELLOW TEEN**

The first thing that ran through my mind was that that was the worst headline I'd ever seen in my pathetic life. Then it hit me: I killed Red. Killed him. Killed him. Killed him! KILLED HIM! I felt like Ender from Ender's Game, finding out that he killed Bonzo.

I began sweating. Sharp lightning bolts of pain shot through my brain. I stumbled over to Sapphire.

"Red…" I mumbled.

She snatched the paper away and looked at it. I could tell it was all she could do not to scream.

"You killed him?!" she cried. "Why didn't you tell me you killed him?!"

"If I had known, I'd be in Death Valley above the Badwater Basin by now!" I yelled. "How was I supposed to know that he would die? Besides, they've come a micrometer from killing me thousands of times! Now I'm gonna get trashed like yesterday's news! Sorry, but I didn't know I killed him!" I took the paper back and looked at the article. Sure enough, they made it sound like I was the bad guy. Nobody'd believe me now.

I heard the unmistakable cocking of a gun. "Drop it," someone snarled.

I threw the paper to the ground and turned around to find the barrel of a shotgun in my face.

"So you're the jerk who's been stealing my newspapers," Diamond said quietly.

"Just because I found a newspaper doesn't mean it's yours," I said coldly. "What do you have against me anyway? You've beaten me up for ten years, and now when I beat someone up, you shove a shotgun in my face?"

"You killed my best friend," Diamond snarled.

"Oh yeah, and I totally knew that kicking him a few times would kill him," I said sarcastically. "I totally meant for that to happen."

"You've got three seconds to leave with your happy place still intact," he said, pointing the shotgun at my groin. "One."

"Hold it, Diamond, I just want to find out what the heck happened!" I yelled.

"Two."

Sapphire screeched. If you didn't hear that, you let me know. I think my eardrums ruptured.

"Three."

Nope, I still heard that. My eardrums are still intact. Wait. Three? _Crap._

I felt a blinding pain in the side of my head, and, well, then I don't know.

**Sapphire's POV**

There he was, on the ground, blood beginning to trickle from his scalp.

Diamond had whacked him upside the head with the barrel of the gun.

"I thought you were going to shoot him," I said quietly.

"I can't," he said. "He's taught me too many lessons in life." With that, he was gone.

I looked at Platinum. Diamond might have killed him anyway. Probably not, but it was a slim possibility.

I hovered over his face. The skin was almost white.

Without warning, I leaned toward him and kissed his lips. Just like that. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it was all I had.

"Come on, come back to me," I murmured. "You've gotta."

Isn't it weird when you meet someone like this, and you, dang it, start to fall for him? I think that's what I was doing. I'm not sure, but I think so.

I don't know how long I sat there. All I know is that I want him to come back. I just want him to wake up. I don't know if he will, but I want him to.

**IN THE HOSPITAL**

**0335 HOURS**

The light above the door to the emergency room turned off.

I sat up instantly, cocking my head and jerking it to look at things.

"You must love him a lot," said a voice.

I turned to see the receptionist smiling at me.

I was confused. "What?"

"Ever since the ambulance came, you've never left him. Even now, when they're working on him, you're staying here for him. That's loyalty and devotion."

I smiled weakly. "Thanks, I guess."

A doctor stepped out. "We have our results. The patient is…

…

…

…

…

"Gone."

A single tear appeared in my eye.

"He was awake for a moment, though. And he told us to tell someone named Sapphire that he loved her, and that she should take care of herself, for him. Do you know someone by that name?"

I nodded sadly. "That's me."

The receptionist looked away.

"Doctor, we shocked him back to life!" yelled someone from inside. "He's alive!"

I jumped so high I think I hit the ceiling.

A few minutes later, I was looking at his face.

He opened his eyes. The first thing he said was: "Anybody have any Tylenol? My head's killing me."

I laughed. Tears streamed out of my eyes. "Welcome back, Platinum."

"Being dead rots," he muttered. "It's so darn boring."

I kissed him.

Somewhere between a millisecond and a millennium, we broke apart.

He gasped. "Wow, it's fun to kiss you." He saw the tears and frowned. "Am I that bad at this kissing thing? 'Cause I've never done it before."

I laughed and shook my head. "I lost you. That made me feel like crap. You're great at the kissing thing."

His frown got wider. "How many people have you kissed?"

"None."

"Then how do you know I was so good at it?"

"Felt good."

He chuckled. "Well, I'm not bored anymore."

I leaned in toward his face. "I love you," I whispered.

"Ditto," he murmured.

We kissed again.

I swear I could've heard the receptionist chuckle.


End file.
